


Frozen

by karakael



Category: GaoGaiGar
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 18:42:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karakael/pseuds/karakael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to a misunderstanding, J believes Renais to be dying. The loss frightens him more than he would like to admit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frozen

"Renais? Oh, I think they assigned her the fridge." The tech began, not looking up from the numbers scrolling across her screen. "Why do you - "

But by then he was gone, speeding down the corridor even faster than before, his stoic face not belying the inner turmoil the words had begun. Yes, the 3G crew were strapped for resources and were coping with more failures than should ever be expected of a stranded space force. Ever since the universe had imploded on them they had struggled simply to keep the three parts of their space-station running, so it was no surprise that they were discarding the useless or damaged crew members...

But surely they wouldn't do that to Renais. Not one of their strongest warriors. Surely there could be something she could do that would delay her termination.

Not that J cared. The woman was just a comrade, that was all. The clench in his gut at the thought of her gone, the need to see her before she was frozen...all of that could be explained by the connection generated from fighting by her side. It would decrease with time. His functioning was not compromised by her presence, and her loss would not affect him. 

But he sped his pace none-the-less, his pulse beating in his ears and his J-Crystal flickering madly with worry.

\----------- 

The first Renais heard of the misconception was when J burst into her freezer, to find her curled beneath a pile of cold-blankets and dusted with ice-crystals, a mega-sized sound-dampening system screwed firmly over her ears.

It wasn't the first time she'd been violently shaken awake, but J was one of the best sights she'd seen afterward. Even if he did look even paler than she remembered.

"You're alive." The relief in his voice was subtle, but the accompanying hug was not. "I thought they had frozen you."

Blinking steam from her eyes she cautiously returned the hug, shocked at the level of physical contact the warrior cyborg was showing. First worry, then relief, and now affection? What had happened while she was asleep?

"J, I'm fine. What is going on? Who said they were going to freeze me? And why the hell would that work? I'm a bloody human heat source!"

There was a pause, as if he hadn't considered that idea.

"On your world...they do not freeze fallen or damaged troops?"

Renais balked. "Of course not."

"Even...even if they cannot be repaired?"

He touched her damaged cooling-coat, and she noticed his hands were shaking, even as realization hit.

"You thought...because they can't fix me, that they'd let me die just so they wouldn't have to care for me?"

He nodded once. Beneath his low-hanging hair his expression was grim. In another man it might even have been fearful, but in J it took on connotations of accepting the inevitable. Of course a Soldat wouldn't be allowed to morn a fallen comrade. Or, for that matter, form attachments in the first place.

Which went a long way to explaining how they were completely trounced by the Primevals, in Renais's mind, but that was a secondary thought to the more important one - making sure her partner understood that she wouldn't be left to die.

"Idiot."

That got the insulted growl she was looking for, which allowed her just enough time to wrap him once again in her arms.

"As much as I disagree with them sometimes, 3G doesn't work like that. Instead, they find a use for everybody...even someone 'damaged' like me."

His body was wooden under her arms, but it slowly relaxed as she explained. His lanky limbs first loosened, then wound themselves under and around hers, head resting on hers and crystal-pulse calming to the same rhythm as that of her G-Stone.

"This room's damaged - the freezer's overclocking - and can't be repaired until the partial-accelerator goes up. So they put me here instead. I heat the room and stop the whole wing from freezing, and as a result stop over-heating and endangering the crew."

She spoke on, explaining the scheduled of repairs and her place in it; how she was being used to do repairs in the vacuum and low-oxygen areas, how her father was spending every extra second working on her coat, how Guy and the rest were keeping her updated on the ships progress...and how, just like every member of 3G, she was part of the repair effort and not abandoned or unwanted.

By the end of her explanation his hands had met at her back, and were squeezing her just as tightly as she was holding him. She wondered what his logic for this was - that she apparently wanted physical contact, and therefore he should return it? That sounded like something an emotionally detached soldier would say to excuse his lack of distance. Even if under it he really needed reassurance and comfort.

"I will stay."

She blinked, trying to slot this response into her understanding of the soldier.

"...why?"

"I too am unused. Would you mind..." He searched for the word. "...company?"

His smile was forced, nothing like his usual smirk, and there was worry in his tone. As if she would reject him, or call him out on his lack of practicality. 

Instead she laughed and slung one of her ice-covered blankets over his shoulder.

"Yes, Mr. J, I would like that very much."

The kiss, when it came later, was a surprise for both of them, but by then she had convinced him it was almost practical. Not completely - but almost.


End file.
